Self-Perceived Difficulty in Job Performance by Working Patients with Uveitis: Global Assessment and by Subscales of Work Demands.

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate a worker's self-perceived difficulty in job performance as a whole and by subscales of job demands in a sample of working patients with uveitis and to analyze the relationship with sociodemographic, occupational, and clinical variables.

Methods: A cross-sectional, cross-association study was conducted. Participants completed the Work Role Functioning Questionnaire (WRFQ) to assess self-perceived difficulty in job performance. Clinical data were collected from the patients' medical records or instruments used to evaluate clinical parameters in practice. Two clinical groups were established for this study. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to assess associations between variables.

Results: Sixty participants were included in the study. In the multivariate linear regression analysis, active uveitis was significantly associated with a worse WRFQ total score (coefficient, -25.1; 95% CI, -36.6 to -13.6; p < 0.001). Acute course uveitis was significantly associated with a better total score than recurrent and chronic uveitis (coefficient, 17.7; 95% CI, 3.7 to 31.7; p = 0.014). In bivariate analysis, patients with active uveitis also scored worse on all subscales and on the total score.

Conclusions: Patients with active uveitis presented with greater self-perceived difficulty in the performance of their work as a whole and in all subscales of work demands. Patients with acute uveitis presented with less difficulty than those with recurrent and chronic uveitis. Early and correct treatment of uveitis in specialized units may reduce its impact on patients' work impairment.